J.T. Baker Chemical Company: The Station
@ Gallery 400
400 S. Peoria St, Chicago, Illinois 60607
Opening Tuesday, April 8th, from 10am - 6PM
On view through Saturday, April 12th
The J.T. Baker Chemical Company is pleased to present the first public viewing of The Station. This iteration will focus on the production of the soap opera Lifelong Longing.*
Actor Auditions (open to the public): Tuesday, April 8, from 10AM – 6PM
Tour of sets A, B, C and D: Wednesday, April 9th at 5:45PM; Saturday April 12th at NOON
Gallery Reception: Friday, April 11th, from 5PM – 8PM
The Station Redescribed, 1961 / 2014
The Station is like the corporation, an environmental (as well as thematic) form. In a way they are the same thing because some businesses or companies (like P&G, like J.T. Baker) are just large moving image productions (flags, commercials, press conferences, etc.). At The Station the concentration upon acts and processes is more intense. Favorability and output are secondary to fabrication and production.
The original idea of The Station was a simple one—to fill a space with objects such as those in any kind of station, but this was not satisfactory as we proceeded. The problem became how to activate the simple objects, how to surprise them—fragmentation, gigantism, obsession. This project is called a station because like a station it is a collection of objects and actions in a given space.
The props on the set are furniture and objects of every sort: the clothing and the boxes and wrappers for all these radiant commercial articles for which we have developed affection, which has made us want to imitate them. We have made these things: a production map, scripts, exterior wall, fireplace, painting, table, gun, couch, magazine, grass, and more. In showing them together, we want to imitate the act of perceiving them, which is why that are shown as fragments (of the field of seeing), in different context, in a form surrounding the actors (and the spectator), and in accumulation rather than in some imposed design. And the effect is: we have created our own station.
At last, a gallery as a useful lively place.
* Lifelong Longing is an enduring ensemble drama following a cast of characters through a precarious world without surety or stability.
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Tags: Daba Nussbaum, Gallery 400, j.t. baker chemical company, Kyle Schlie, The Station, West Loop
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